RFA Reports First Tibetan Self-Immolation of 2014

A Tibetan living in northwestern China’s Qinghai province has set himself on fire in protest against Beijing’s rule in the first self-immolation protest by Tibetans this year, triggering a security crackdown, local sources said Thursday.

Phagmo Samdrub, 29, set himself ablaze “for the cause of Tibet” at around 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday near the Panchen Day School in Dokarmo township in Tsekhog (in Chinese, Zeku) county in the Malho (Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, a local resident told RFA’s Tibetan Service.

“On Feb. 5, a Tibetan called Phagmo Samdrub self-immolated for the cause of Tibet,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity and adding that Samdrub had been taken away by Chinese authorities.

By the early hours of Thursday, Chinese forces had tightened security “very conspicuously” in Tsekhog and nearby Rebgong (Tongren) county, the scene of several earlier self-immolation protests, the source said. [Source]